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Search widens for missing Malaysia Airlines jet

VuTrong

Search and rescue crews from across Asia are scrambling to discover the fate of a Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 239 people that disappeared in the early hours Saturday en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

Authorities from Malaysia and Vietnam dispatched aircraft to scour the waters between the two countries for signs of flight MH370. The Philippines also said it would mobilize vessels to look for wreckage and survivors.

On Saturday evening, the Vietnamese government said on its website that search aircraft may have spotted two oil slicks that could be from the jet engines of the missing flight.

Search pilots spotted two possible oil slicks, each 10 to 15 kilometers (6.2 to 9.3 miles) in length, about 500 meters apart and about 140 kilometers south of Tho Chu island off southern Vietnam, the statement said.

But the Vietnamese commander for the region, Navy Adm. Ngo Van Phat, said the location provided by state media was in fact the area where Malaysian authorities lost contact with the plane, and the precise location of the jet--and what happened to it--remain unknown. "We are standing by now, waiting for orders from our leaders to launch search and rescue operations," Adm. Phat told The Wall Street Journal. "We have been notified by Malaysian rescue authorities that the area is about 153 miles (283 kilometers) from Vietnam's Tho Chu island. That area will be accessed faster from Malaysia or Thailand."

Malaysian officials and Malaysia Airlines executives also say they have no information on the missing plane's location. Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also Malaysia's defense minister, said the country's navy, air force and army had been deployed to lead the search, including a C-130 Hercules aircraft.

The Boeing 777-200ER departed from Kuala Lumpur 12:41 a.m. local time with 227 passengers and 12 crew members and was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m., Malaysia Airlines said in a statement.

Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a news conference that the airline lost contact with the aircraft between Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace and that there were no reports of bad weather along the route. Mr. Ahmad said the missing plane didn't send a distress signal and had enough fuel to fly an extra two hours.

He said the missing flight's passengers include 154 Chinese and Taiwanese, 38 Malaysians and 12 Indonesians. Passengers from Australia, the U.S., France, Ukraine and Canada are also on board. Asked about the fate of the aircraft and passengers, Mr. Ahmad said: "I don't want to speculate as search and rescue is still ongoing."

The flight normally takes six hours, beginning over water before crossing Vietnam into southern China.

Lai Xuan Thanh, chief of Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, told The Wall Street Journal that he feared the plane may have crashed in Vietnamese airspace. "We still need to confirm everything. [There were] no reports of bad weather in the region at the time of the signal loss," he said. Mr. Thanh added that Vietnam has sent two planes to join the search-and-rescue operations, and several navy vessels are standing by.

A spokeswoman at Civil Aviation Administration of China said Malaysia Airlines notified it about the missing plane, adding that the aviation regulator activated emergency plans and requested that air-traffic control operations work closely with the airline and Malaysian authorities.

"We are all very worried. We hope everyone is safe," China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a news conference scheduled as part of an annual parliament meeting. "We're doing all we can to get more details."

Malaysia Airlines' Mr. Ahmad said Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the 53-year-old captain of the missing plane, had 18,365 hours of experience and joined the airline in 1981. His deputy is 27 years old and has more than 2,700 hours of flying experience.

Malaysia Airlines hasn't had any fatal accidents for the better part of two decades. In September 1995, a Malaysia Airlines Fokker 50 crashed in Tawau, Sabah, killing 34. The deadliest incident involving the airline was a December 1977 crash of a Boeing 737-200 jet that crashed in southern Johor state after an apparent hijacking attempt, which killed all 100 people on board.

Malaysia Airlines "operates in accordance with the highest international standards," said Andrew Herdman, managing director of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.

Malaysia Airlines took delivery of its first 777-200ER in 1997 and is evaluating new Boeing Co. and Airbus Group jetliners to replace the aging 777s in its fleet with newer and more efficient models.

A Boeing spokeswoman said the company is "closely monitoring reports on Malaysia flight MH370. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone on board."

The 777 is among the most reliable of the current generation of widebody jetliners and years ago it pioneered extended overwater routes across the Pacific.

Boeing officials emphasize the 777's excellent safety features by pointing out that in millions of takeoffs, there hasn't been a single instance of an engine failing at the instant of liftoff from a runway. For today's jets, the cruise portion of flights are considered to pose significantly fewer potential hazards than approach and landing.

In Beijing, the airline gathered a small group of people who were waiting to greet arrivals at a nearby hotel. They said they had no details to offer.

Among them was Zhang Jinchao, who said he had grown concerned for the four Indonesian business associates he was to meet when he saw there was no arrival time posted after the plane's scheduled landing.

Search and rescue crews from across Asia are scrambling to discover the fate of a Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 239 people that disappeared early Saturday en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

Authorities from Malaysia and Vietnam dispatched aircraft to scour the waters between the two countries for signs of flight MH370. The Philippines also said it would mobilize vessels to look for wreckage and survivors.

On Saturday evening, the Vietnamese government said on its website that search aircraft may have spotted two oil slicks that could be from the jet engines of the missing flight.

Search pilots spotted two possible oil slicks, each 10 to 15 kilometers (6.2 to 9.3 miles) in length, about 500 meters apart and about 140 kilometers south of Tho Chu island off southern Vietnam, the statement said.

Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of the country's army, later said on national television that Vietnam is sending ships to the area of the possible slicks.

But the Vietnamese commander for the region, Navy Adm. Ngo Van Phat, said the location provided by state media was in fact the area where Malaysian authorities lost contact with the plane, and the precise location of the jet--and what happened to it--remain unknown. "We are standing by now, waiting for orders from our leaders to launch search and rescue operations," Adm. Phat told The Wall Street Journal. "We have been notified by Malaysian rescue authorities that the area is about 153 miles (283 kilometers) from Vietnam's Tho Chu island. That area will be accessed faster from Malaysia or Thailand."

Malaysian officials and Malaysia Airlines executives also say they have no information on the missing plane's location. Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also Malaysia's defense minister, said the country's navy, air force and army had been deployed to lead the search, including a C-130 Hercules aircraft.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday that the search for the plane will be widened in the South China Sea.

"We have decided to widen the search area and we have mobilized" 15 planes and nine ships for that purpose, Mr. Najib added.

The Boeing 777-200ER departed from Kuala Lumpur 12:41 a.m. local time with 227 passengers and 12 crew members and was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m., Malaysia Airlines said in a statement.

Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a news conference that the airline lost contact with the aircraft between Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace and that there were no reports of bad weather along the route. Mr. Ahmad said the missing plane didn't send a distress signal and had enough fuel to fly an extra two hours.

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